I have not been happy with the LED reading lights on the market. The light tends to be bluish and the illumination is uneven. Your thoughts?

A. :

I do think that reading lights are good candidates for the use of an LED source. You can have a relatively small shade size housing a pretty powerful light.

I do prefer the ones that have some sort of diffusing material over the LEDs themselves so that we don’t get overlapping circles of illumination on the page.

The earlier LEDs that first came on the market that had more of the bluish color of light, but now we are seeing options that are very close to the color of halogen (3000K) and incandescent (2700K).

Many of them are dimmable as well, but it is important to see what the manufacturer recommends as the dimmer of choice. Unfortunately, there is no universal standard that allows LEDs to dim in the same way.

Randall Whitehead, IALD

Randall Whitehead, IALD, is a professional lighting designer and author. His books include "Residential Lighting, A Practical Guide." Whitehead has worked on projects worldwide, appeared on the Discovery Channel, HGTV and CNN, and he is regular guest on Martha Stewart Living Radio. Visit his website www.randallwhitehead.com for more information on books, upcoming seminars and the latest lighting trends.